TH£ TCLLOWSHIP 
op-THepirTVPf. 



eDlTCD ■ By • PCRCy • D6ARM6R 




Class . IB F\ _. 

Book. 2h *~ 

Copyright N° 



COPffilGMT DEPOSIT. 



THE FELLOWSHIP 
of the PICTURE 



THE FELLOWSHIP 
of the PICTURE 

AN AUTOMATIC SCRIPT 



TAKEN DOWN BY 

NANCY DEARMER 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

PERCY DEARMER, M.A., D.D. 

PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL ART, KING'S COLLEGE, 
LONDON 




NEW YORK 

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 

68 1 Fifth Avenue 



Copyright, 1920, by 
E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



All Rights Reserved 






o\ 



Printed in the United States of America 



SEP 28 1920 
©CI.A576620 



CONTENTS 







PAGE 




INTRODUCTION .... 


vii 


I. 


ESCAPING FROM CONVENTIONALISM 


I 


II. 


HOPE 


6 


III. 


hope (Contd.) .... 


9 


IV. 


FAITH 


ii 


V. 


"A GARDEN ENCLOSED" 


15 


VI. 


HELPING GOD 


17 


VII. 


"i MAKE A SACRIFICE" 


20 


VIII. 


SACRIFICE AND THE PICTURE 


22 


IX. 


PEACE AND GOODNESS . 


25 


X. 


THE DIFFICULTY OF CREEDS 


28 


XI. 


CREEDS AND FAMILY PRAYER 


30 


XII. 


children's PRAYERS . 


32 


XIII. 


UNDERSTANDING AND STUPIDITY 


34 


XIV. 


CORPORATE THOUGHT . 


37 


XV. 


OTHER MEN 


40 


XVI. 


WISDOM 


43 


XVII. 


wisdom (Contd.) .... 


46 



CONTENTS 



XVIII. THE CHAIN OF EXPERIENCE 
XIX. THE OLD COMMUNITIES 
XX. COMMUNITIES AND CHILDREN . 

XXI. THE NEW COMMUNITY 

XXII. BEGINNING OF A NEW COMMUNITY 

XXIII. THE IMPORTANCE OF FELLOWSHIP 

XXIV. COMMUNION AND FELLOWSHIP . 
XXV. THE SHARE OF THE CHILDREN 

XXVI. LIGHT IN THE CORNERS . 
XXVII. THE DUSTY ONES 
XXVIII. ON FEARING EVIL 
XXIX. A JOYFUL CONSCIENCE 
XXX. THE DEMON IN THEOLOGY 
XXXI. THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY 
XXXII. WHAT IS OMNIPOTENCE? . 

XXXIII. THE LAWS OF GOD 

XXXIV. A PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY 
XXXV. PLEASURE AND HAPPINESS 

XXXVI. CONCLUSION 



PAGE 
4 8 

Si 

54 
58 
61 

64 
67 
7o 
73 
7« 
79 
82 

85 
88 

91 
93 
96 
98 
101 



INTRODUCTION 



/^\N July 31st, 19 19, when we were staying in 
^-^ our country cottage, my wife felt impelled 
to sit down and allow her hand to write auto- 
matically. She had previously felt a marked 
dislike of all such supposed manifestations or 
communications as are now classed under the 
name of Psychics ; nor had she ever imagined her- 
self to have any psychic powers, or gifts, or 
whatever they may be. When I happened to 
come into the room where she was, she told me 
that her hand was writing, but that she did not 
know what the writing was, as she had not yet 
read it. I looked over her shoulder, and saw 
that, after some meaningless attempts at sentences, 
the script had settled down into a coherent mes- 
sage. So I said, "This looks interesting. I think 



viii Introduction 

you had better go on writing, and see what 
happens." 

She thenceforward wrote for about half an hour 
a day quite regularly and as a matter of course, 
interrupting her morning duties to write, then 
bringing the script for me to read aloud, so that 
she might hear what it was about. This con- 
tinued with an interruption of a few days, until 
September ioth, when, on reading the script aloud 
to her, I found, to the surprise of both of us, 
that the book which had been coming out so regu- 
larly had reached its end. 

We neither of us desire to propose any theory 
about the book which we now offer to the reader, 
or to express any opinion; except to say that 
neither of us was the author of it, and that we 
find it very difficult to frame any hypothesis ex- 
cept that in some unexplained way it did emanate 
from the mind of the friend whose name, or 
initials, was frequently appended to the morn- 
ing's chapter. From the beginning this name was 
signed in a different handwriting from that of 
my wife — in fact, with the same signature which 



Introduction ix 

we found on looking through his letters ; and the 
last page was signed with his initials. All along, 
the script was written as from one who was 
urgent to give a message to the world, who was 
the friend we had known, and whose identity was 
familiar and unmistakable. 

He was a well-known man of academic dis- 
tinction and singularly pure and high character, 
who was killed in France in 191 8. He had al- 
ready written certain valuable contributions to 
religion and philosophy; but he had another book 
on his mind which he was anxious to write as 
soon as the war was over. "The Fellowship of 
the Picture" claims to be that book. We print 
it as it stands only omitting a few personal sen- 
tences of no public interest; and we offer it to 
the reader for what it claims to be, taking no 
further responsibility upon ourselves, except to 
say that we have been scrupulously careful 
throughout in what we have done. The original 
script was paged and dated as it appeared, and 
was countersigned by several friends who were 
staying with us in the country during last August 
and September, and who very kindly sat in the 
room while my wife read or looked out of the 



x Introduction 

window as her hand hastened over the paper. 
We wrote at the outset to the Society for 
Psychical Research to ask if there were any 
further precautions we could take, and were in- 
formed by the secretary that there were none be- 
yond what we were already doing. We have 
since then shown the script to the secretary of the 
Society. 

The proofs have been carefully corrected from 
the original script. A few words which were 
obvious mistakes have been altered, and a list 
of these is given at the end of the book. The 
punctuation has been made heavier, and here and 
there a word has been put into italic. Otherwise 
the script is exactly reproduced; except for the 
personal passages which have been omitted (three 
typical examples are given on pp. 8, 87 and 
103), their places being denoted by three dots, 
in every case. 

We are now publishing the book because we 
are strongly convinced of its great intrinsic merit. 
On consideration, we felt that we ought to take 
the public into our confidence as to the manner 
of its production; and we are therefore obliged 



Introduction xi 

very reluctantly to print our own names as a 
guarantee of good faith, though we can claim 
no credit for a work which did not come from the 
brains of either of us, whatever the ultimate ex- 
planation of its transmission through my wife 
may be. 

Percy Dearmer. 
February, 1920. 



THE FELLOWSHIP 
of the PICTURE 



ESCAPING FROM CONVENTIONALISM 

^T^HE world to-day* is hungry for prayer and 
-*• the restfulness of prayer, in a way that 
it has never hungered before. I wonder if we 
can gather together our thoughts about it into 
some kind of form, in order that they may pos- 
sibly help all these young folk, who are earnestly 
seeking for help, and perhaps not finding it in 
more official quarters. It isn't very easy, because 
the whole subject has got so conventionalised: 
and if we are going to help folk now, we have 
got to get away from conventionalism and talk 
about prayer and God as we talk about cricket 
or other pursuits, that is, with entire simplicity 
of thought and word. We must pay God the 

*The first three pages down to "with your fellows . . ." 
were written last of all, evidently to serve as an introduc- 
tion if there should later on be a reason for publication. 

I 



2 The Fellowship of the Picture 

compliment of treating him as real. So if I seem 
to use phrases unlike the usual religious phrases, 
it will not be from a lack of reverence, but rather, 
I hope, from a profound reverence — a reverence 
too deep to allow me to hide God behind a veil 
of conventionalism. 

Some of the thoughts that come are disjointed; 
but I fancy it may be better to set them down 
just as they occur, because they may contain the 
germ of an idea which is helpful, even if I am 
unable to elaborate it to its fuller value. Others 
may elaborate it further for themselves. Some- 
times it is helpful to have merely a suggestion 
without elaboration. I would not attempt this 
little book at all, only we have worked out some- 
thing which has proved helpful to a few (per- 
haps just through its extreme simplicity, its — al- 
most — easiness), and if there is any chance of its 
helping others, we ought to try to pass on the 
gift. It seems as if it were the gift of seeing 
familiar things from a different angle, which gives 
them a certain freshness and distinctness. So 
after this little apologia we will begin and set 
down what we can of our simple philosophy, de- 



Escaping from Conventionalism 3 

liberately unhampered by a search for style or 
the effort to develop every thought more fully. 

I want to begin with love, because everything 
begins and ends there. And first I want you to 
learn to differentiate between personal and imper- 
sonal love, in order that you may be helped in 
your dealings with your fellows . . . 

. . . Love can be both: and personal love is 
only for the few and near, but impersonal is for 
all. It is an attitude kindly and open to all one 
comes in contact with. It does not tax like per- 
sonal love, but it is less instinctive, and more diffi- 
cult to acquire for most people . . . But most of 
all, it is necessary to love the fellowship, and all 
who go to make it up. Personalities are not a 
bar to love, if it is the impersonal kind. That is 
why the impersonal kind is necessary to learn; the 
personal is too difficult — in bulk — for any one 
but God; his capacity is quite inexhaustible . . . 

Love and faith are both needed. I want you 
to understand about prayer. I wonder if I can 
explain better now than I could that day when 
we talked. It is necessary to be very patient, you 



4 The Fellowship of the Picture 

know. It is a work to learn, and joy for ever 
when you do know; but discipline is not only an 
ugly, tiresome word, it is a fact that we cannot 
get over, and God wants us to be patient, so that 
he may teach us wonderful things about life and 
love, and faith and hope. 

We learn through prayer — prayer is growth 
and life. It is the beginning that is difficult, be- 
cause we are afraid that God is going to ask too 
much of us; but he never really does that, though 
sometimes it seems uncommon like it. You must 
just let yourself go, and remember that God is 
love; and he really does love you, and he isn't 
going to behave like a demon. Just ask him to 
lead your life, and then follow where he leads; 
and, above all, trust — trust him; he is the only 
really trustworthy person you will ever know. 
Don't you think you can do this? 

One is always so full of fears for oneself and 
others, and one thinks no one can manage so 
well, not even God. But what is the use of 
being God if you can't manage better than Nan, 
eh? That's what I discovered about God and 



Escaping from Conventionalism 5 

myself; and when he arranges life, it becomes 
enormously interesting and really very comfy, you 
know. I never could arrange my own life 
"comfily," but he is an artist in living and in life. 
Do trust him: it is peace and joy, and all the 
good things. 

Meditation in the set sense is not much use, 
I fancy; but thought about God is, and it isn't 
necessary to be a hermit for that. You can do 
it nearly all the time; only don't expect him to 
do things that are out of the picture. He isn't 
going to spoil his picture just for one person, 
you know; that wouldn't do at all. Think of the 
mess it would make ! No, you have got to see 
the picture, and then he will help you to make 
your life fit in; and to be part of the picture is 
much more glorious than to have one's own 
private little plans answered. In the end all good 
in prayer is answered, because God is good and 
he reabsorbs all the good in the world . . . 



II 

HOPE 

T TOPE is very often misunderstood. It is not 
A merely expectancy, it is something much 
bigger than that ... It is a difficult, but inter- 
esting question. It is very necessary to prayer, 
and yet to some people it is almost the only side 
of prayer, and that is not right. Hope is more 
constructive than that: it causes men to be wan- 
derers in search of Never-never Land. Prayer 
is, after all, a prolonged wanderjahr of the soul 
— wandering after God, finding his traces, follow- 
ing his lead in all things. It really is easy. 

But about hope. Hope implies trust; so you 
must trust God implicitly, before you can begin 
to hope in the real sense of the word. It is no 

6 



Hope 7 

good hoping wrong things; it only leads to dis- 
appointment and to asking God for something 
over which he has no direct control. So, you 
see, you must follow God's lead in your hopes 
as also in your prayers. Hoping is not a jumble 
of sudden impulses; it must be part of the plan, 
too. Do you understand? It all goes to build 
up God's beautiful picture. 

Of course this is difficult, because one's own 
private and intimate hopes intrude: that is only 
natural, and, I believe, right. But in judging 
God and his actions, it is necessary to distinguish 
between these earthly hopes of our own and the 
heavenly hope which we must practise and which 
is a near attribute of God. A wrong idea of 
God is almost inevitable if we do not thus dis- 
tinguish, because we are then certain to say that 
God gave us hopes and then did not fulfil them; 
and it is hurtful to ourselves and to our faith 
to believe that God ever lets us down. He never, 
never does. So try to get these two phases of 
hope clear, earthly intimate hopes, which I must 
add are often nearly connected with fear, and 



8 The Fellowship of the Picture 

godlike heavenly hope, which is constructive and 
helps on with the Picture.* 



* The original script goes on : "We are progressing so 
well. I think we really shall write this book between us — 
don't you, Nan? How ripping! But you mustn't do too 
much, and tire — that won't do. So I will stop for the 
present. Give me half an hour a day, when you are fresh 
in the mornings. We shall have plenty of time that way." 
No signature on this occasion. 



Ill 

HOPE {continued)' 

T HAVE a good deal more to say about hope. 
It really is rather difficult to understand; 
and yet a true understanding of it is most awfully 
important if you are to pray rightly. Hope is 
always a dream of heaven, a vision; and the 
vision cannot live without the help of man. God 
needs man's help in making his vision-picture 
come true, and it is man's right understanding 
and practising of hope that is required. Hope 
implies faith too. You must believe in something 
before you can hope for it; but most people put 
that the other way round. That is why their 
hopes are so vague, and of so little constructive 
value. 

We can be God's architects, all of us, only this 
means passivity and few people are prepared to 
9 



io The Fellowship of the Picture 

be passive: they must always De doing things. 
Are you prepared to be passive? Don't be busy, 
except over what comes in your direct daily path. 
Passive folk are needed badly, and you know 
how to be passive : that is why I can use you for 
my book. God can use you for many things, if 
you are passive. Just attend to him, and he will 
fill your life. 

About hope : don't think I am "snubbing" about 
earthly hopes; they are impulses, you can't help 
having them. Impulses are often sweet and 
right. Only do distinguish between them and the 
larger thing, which is a helpful constructive thing, 
and a thing that God requires of those of us who 
do his bidding. If enough of us do his will, there 
is nothing that he cannot do with the world, and 
it will be a dear sweet place to live in, full of 
God and his love. But lots of us must help ; and 
you must see this and make others see it. 



IV 

FAITH 

T7AITH must come before hope — you must be- 
lieve in something before you can hope for 
it. I am speaking now of the larger hope — 
godlike hope. Faith is a sort of vision; it is the 
beginning of the scheme which builds up God's 
picture. Do you think it is difficult to have faith? 
It isn't really. Of course it is a God-given gift, 
and different people get it in varying degrees; 
but all can practise it. If only you can acquire 
the habit of seeing that things are not difficult, 
you will be half-way up the ladder of faith, so 
to speak. I suppose fear is the greatest hindrance 
to faith. You really must get fear out of your 
life somehow, if you are to go on. 

I wonder if I can make this clearer. Think 
of faith as a dive, the dive into the unknown. 



12 The Fellowship of the Picture 

It takes more courage, because it is the begin- 
ning, the first plunge. When once that first 
plunge is taken, the rest is comparatively easy, 
and fear goes, perhaps for ever. Fear is such 
a waste of life: it must be got rid of before any 
progress is obtained. I think it is the greatest 
and most successful work of the devil. He 
chortles with glee when we give way to it! You 
don't want to have the devil chortling with glee 
over you — do you? It is a nasty sound! So just 
you get rid of all fear, and take the plunge of 
faith; and God will do the rest and lead you 
into all truth, and love, and light. Faith is mis- 
understood often, and thought to be a more com- 
plex thing than it really is. Take it from me, 
it is simple if only you can catch the first glimmer 
of an idea of it. The word is tied up with so 
much human "muddle-ideadness" that it takes a 
bit of disentangling — in fact, you must cut through 
it like barbed wire. No, I can't tell you exactly 
how to cut through — every one must discover that 
for himself — but I think you can, if you just try. 
God likes to see a bit of effort. 

Faith and works — well, but faith is a work 



Faith 13 

itself. They talk as if you just turned the tap 
and faith ran out like beer. Am I mixing 
metaphors, I wonder? They were made to get 
mixed, I think! but we must try to keep them 
clear, mustn't we? . . ± 

Corporate prayer ought to be as simple in 
form as possible, because you don't want to tie 
up individuals by putting them to pray together. 
It oughtn't to be a constriction — that is not quite 
the word — it ought to be a widening and grow- 
ing, for the individual to pray in company. He 
ought to be free enough to develop along his own 
lines, as the S. C. M.* folk are so fond of saying! 
There must be room for individual growth and 
development in corporate worship : and that is 
why I say that the form must be very simple, and 
allow a place for the individual growth. No, I 
do not mean that the congregation should go 
their own ways, and pray aloud just when they 
please; but some forms of prayer now used are 
earth-bound; and we, on the contrary, should be 
heaven-bound. So it don't fit — do you see? 

* Student Christian Movement. 



14 The Fellowship of the Picture 

Aim above all at simplicity of form; but re- 
member that what is difficult to you may be simple 
to others, and what is simple to you may be im- 
possible to them. So don't be impatient with the 
things that you personally have, or seem to have, 
no use for: reserve your impatience for those 
forms that do not ring true — that are earth- 
bound. If the services are rid of them, you will 
be well on the way to heaven . . . 



V 

"A GARDEN ENCLOSED" 

T)AY great attention. Prayer gathers up all 
*- that is best in us to meet God; therefore, 
you see the importance of keeping yourself en- 
cased, as it were. This may sound somewhat of 
a contradiction; but, if you think, you will see 
that it is not so. You wish to keep all the good 
inviolate, in order that God may have back what 
comes from him, to use again for his own pur- 
poses. You must not dissipate this good: it is 
God's treasure, of which you are the temporary 
custodian. Therefore a certain — not aloofness, 
a horrid word implying superiority — but a certain 
enclosedness, like a city within its own walls, is 
becoming to those whom God uses : it makes for 
repose, and that is helpful to the working out of 
God's plan. Does this strike you as reasonable 
and true? It is very far from a priggish attitude 
15 



16 The Fellowship of the Picture 

really, you know, it is only a safeguard against 
waste. It does not mean a cutting of oneself off 
from the life like an anchorite: it can be prac- 
tised in daily life without raising any barriers be- 
tween oneself and one's neighbour. 

God never teaches us to cut ourselves off from 
human life and experience: it is not his plan for 
us — I am sure of this. We know God only so 
far as we live to the full; and knowledge of our 
neighbour brings truer understanding of God, 
though it is also true that knowledge of God ac- 
quired by prayer is necessary before we can begin 
to know our neighbour. So you see, it is a kind 
of magic circle, and once you can get into it, you 
are all right. Circles do not generally lead any- 
where, but this is a magic circle and leads to 
heaven. 



VI 

HELPING GOD 

A BOUT prayer for others (because we must 
■*■ *- not be selfish, you know). It means a lift- 
ing up of them and their needs before God, rather 
than actually asking for specific things for them. 
God knows what is best for them far better than 
we or they can know; and we can safely leave 
them, even our nearest and dearest, in his hands. 
It may partly frustrate God's plan if we insist 
on asking special things for our friends — only he 
can know what they need, what they really need 
for their ultimate well-being. 

Perhaps you are wondering why we are needed 
at all. It is part of God's plan that he needs 
our co-operation if his plan is to work. He has 
ordained that without our help he is only partly 
able to carry out his plan. Our highest good 
17 



18 The Fellowship of the Picture 

requires that we should be needed to help him, 
and so he has ordained it that way. Helping — 
helping God and others — draws out the best in 
us, and God in his wisdom sees this and uses it 
for the plan. Then, too, many others will never 
learn to pray for themselves; either they haven't, 
or think they have not time, or else the will is 
too weak — or other reasons — so our prayers for 
them are doubly precious in God's sight, because 
they are the only help he will get, where those 
people are concerned, for his plan. Do you see? 
Lift up to God in prayer especially those whom 
you have reason to believe do not pray for them- 
selves; remember them as individuals, when you 
are in God's presence — selfishness must never 
enter God's presence, it hurts him as you on earth 
can never comprehend. Therefore remember 
others always when you pray; but do not special- 
ise — just ask that all good may come to those 
for whom you pray, and that God's will may be 
accomplished in them. 

You never really thought before how much 
God needed your help, did you? People gen- 
erally think mostly of their need of God's help; 



Helping God 19 

but the other is just as necessary if the plan is 
to come true. And when the plan comes true, 
heaven will be upon earth and earth will be 
heaven; and that is not an impossible dream, but 
something we may all work for — you on earth, 
and we over here. 

Now perhaps you see where faith and hope 
come in. It is so good to think that we may work 
together over the biggest plan that ever was made. 
Do you sometimes catch a gleam of the glory of 
the plan? . . . 



VII 

"I MAKE A SACRIFICE" 

/ "T^HIS is the most difficult piece we have had 

■*• so far. You must try to help me to be 

clear. Keep your mind as open as possible : other 

thoughts tend to get in the way and to confuse me. 

Sacrifice is difficult to understand, because it is, 
or I should say the thought of it is, mixed up 
with pagan ideas, and we have got to keep free 
from that tangle somehow. First, remember that 
sacrifice is wholly a spiritual thing, and can only 
be offered by the person most concerned. Isaac 
would have had to offer himself, to make a true 
sacrifice. The talk about the Lamb of God 
offered is rather confusing: our Lord offered him- 
self. Then you must understand that the essence 
of sacrifice is its willingness — in fact, it is not 
a sacrifice until even willingness is forgotten, and 
20 



" I Make a Sacrifice " 21 

the one who makes the sacrifice has forgotten the 
need of willingness in his joy at this opportunity 
of helping God. If he says "I make a sacrifice," 
be sure it is no complete sacrifice; for the com- 
plete sacrifice ends in joy, though it is true that 
there is sorrow and bitterness to be passed through 
first — but that is only a stage and must be realised 
as such. Our Lord passed through this stage, 
but he would wish us to look further at the 
ultimate joy. The usefulness of the sacrifice 
begins at the point where sorrow is forgotten and 
we are swept upwards in the joy of the accom- 
plished act. Therefore joy must be the keynote 
of sacrifice; and it is no chastened joy at that, 
but dazzling in its radiance. 

Do not think of sacrifice as something grim 
that God demands of us: he doesn't demand 
sacrifice, he accepts it when it is offered. And 
though the beginning of the process may be grim, 
the sacrifice itself is joy. It must be so. Can 
you see what I am driving at? It seems rather 
a topsy-turvy philosophy at first perhaps, and I 
can't always be as clear as I want to be; but I 
do hope you can understand . . . 



VIII 

SACRIFICE AND THE PICTURE 

CACRIFICE means the letting go of all things 
for the sake of the one thing that is worth 
while. This is not easy. Love and faith and 
hope are all needed, before we can see ourselves 
into the picture sufficiently to make us want to 
let go all the things we had esteemed so highly, 
in favour of one thing unknown. 

First, you must have seen the Picture and begun 
to see yourself into the picture before sacrifice 
begins to be possible to you. Sacrifice asks too 
much, to be given or made lightly; and that is 
as God would wish. Hope for, long for the 
Picture; believe in it with all your power of be- 
lief; pray for it and love it: then follows willing 
sacrifice for it, as for the one thing worth work- 
ing for. Sacrifice clinches, as it were, the friend- 



Sacrifice and the Picture 23 

ship between us and God; it makes us one with 
him. Therefore it is what he longs for from 
us, but never demands. If demanded, it would 
cease to be sacrifice — the very essence of sacrifice 
is wholehearted, generous giving. 

Sacrifice is God-given, not God-demanded. The 
power for it is given to us by him through prayer, 
as a father gives a child the means to help him- 
self and his father: the initial gift comes from 
the father, but he likes it to be asked for. Ask- 
ing is a sign of the necessary keenness. 

God is eager to help us. You see, it is his pic- 
ture, and he longs to see it perfect, but it can 
never be perfect without our help. So you can 
imagine the joy in heaven over one sinner that 
repenteth. The angels haven't God's patience — 
if they had, they wouldn't be angels, they would 
be God. Next to love, patience is God's highest 
attribute — and it is needed! We must learn pa- 
tience from him and not be too unhappy if the 
picture take long in coming to perfection. 

Perhaps you wonder how we are to see some- 



24 The Fellowship of the Picture 

thing that is not wholly there yet — an uncom- 
pleted picture. We see it by getting to the mind 
of God — the Picture is already complete and per- 
fect in God's mind. That is what makes his pa- 
tience so marvellous — to see the picture all com- 
plete, and to have to wait, and to wait, and to 
wait again. Thank God for his patience — that 
is often left out of our praises. 



IX 

PEACE AND GOODNESS 

T OVE is needed, and joy, for the Picture; then 
"^ comes peace, and that is badly needed too. 
Corporate world-wide peace can only come when 
there is individual peace; and there is no individ- 
ual peace possible for a man until he has made 
his way close to God. We must find peace 
through sacrifice; it follows after joy; and then 
we must gather up with us into the peace as many 
others as possible, holding them near God in our 
prayers. For where God is, there is his peace. 
God's peace is not merely passive; out of it grow 
other things, such as forbearance and gentleness. 
We cannot be forbearing and gentle to others if 
our nerves are all of a jangle with the clamour of 
the world. But when we have entered into God's 
peace, the rest comes naturally and without effort. 
So seek peace and pursue it, for yourself and for 
25 



26 The Fellowship of the Picture 

those you love. Whilst men have not peace, they 
will fight, either as individuals or as nations. So, 
you see, almost the greatest gift we can ask for 
the world is peace; but God cannot give world- 
peace until we have each learnt the way of peace 
for ourselves. If you ask for world-peace before 
the other thing is accomplished, you ask what is 
impossible even to God. So seek peace for. your- 
self — that is the first step, and do not forget to 
gather up others with you when you pray. Here 
again is a magic circle; for peace is not possible if 
you have not gentleness and forbearance, but they 
are not possible without peace. That is God's 
paradox. But he will show you the way, through 
prayer. It really is simple, if you will just try. 

Goodness is what others see in us when we fol- 
low God's plan for us. It is not a state we can 
consciously enter into; our own sign that we have 
entered into it is happiness. But others can see 
it in us, and it radiates all the good things; and 
besides, it brings happiness to others. When we 
have attained to it, others wish to be near us. 
There is something protective, an echo of God's 
protection, in human goodness, and men and chil- 



Peace and Goodness 27 

dren, and the beasts too, are quick to discern it 
and to place themselves under this protection. 

Faith has come before. 

Lowliness is easy when we have acquired the 
rest. You cannot be near to God and not be lowly 
before the wonder of him. And if you are for 
ever seeing yourself lit by the radiance of God, 
you will have a humble and meek (though that 
word has lost all meaning) attitude before other 
men. There will be no superiority left in your 
bearing, and they too will become meek. For 
lowliness breeds lowliness in others. 

The last is Temperance, and that means bal- 
ance, and it is the natural consequence of the 
rest . . . 



X 

THE DIFFICULTY OF CREEDS 

f 1 REEDS are not meant to be stumbling-blocks, 
^^^ far from it. They were written as an at- 
tempt to clear men's minds. Perhaps we have not 
reached a point where our minds can be corpo- 
rately clear about God. But it is an ideal at 
which we must aim, and it would be a pity to dis- 
card the Creeds before we have reached that spir- 
itual stronghold of corporate clearness. We may 
find that some of the things we counted least true 
are the simplest, when seen together in the light 
of God's mind. Perhaps they are the missing 
part of the Picture. So don't be in a hurry, and 
don't imagine you are acting a lie when you pro- 
claim that you believe in Christ born of the Virgin 
Mary. Perhaps you are only seeing one side of 
a profound truth. Aim at corporate clearness of 
thought; and expend your energy at seeking for 
28 



The Difficulty of Creeds 29 

this, rather than at trying to expel the Virgin 
from your Credo. And you want great corporate 
faith for a corporate creed; don't forget that. 
Perhaps, by the time that all others of your church 
can say the Creed as it stands in all its parts, be- 
lieving each clause, others from other churches 
will be ready to join with you and it will be for 
all. That is worth a patient waiting for; don't 
you agree? So aim at patience in this as in other 
things. It isn't the stumbling-block you all make 
it out to be; and one day you will see for your- 
selves that what I say is true. But I admit you 
have to take a good deal on trust. Surely, how- 
ever, you can do that. I tell you God is wholly 
trustworthy. 

I have told you discipline is part of God's plan. 
It is necessary for the completion of the picture. 
Institutional religion makes for discipline, and it 
ought not to go entirely; but all the same it need 
not be inhuman : discipline does not mean that, it 
only means a temporary confinement, necessary to 
the achievement of something important and felt 
to be worth while — a restriction which makes for 
concentration. 



XI 

CREEDS AND FAMILY PRAYER 

A LOT of nonsense is talked about creeds. 
Our religion does not depend upon them; 
they depend upon our religion. Get that point 
clear, and they will cease to be stumbling-blocks. 
No one need leave the church because he does not 
believe some clause in the Creed; as I said yester- 
day, if he knew more, no difficulty would proba- 
bly be found. The Creeds were made by man, 
after all; though, remember, they were made by 
sincere men who tried to help others. They 
would have been shocked if they had found that 
they hindered instead of helped. But, all the 
same, we must not give to man-made things the 
importance of God-made things. I think the 
Creeds, however, are God-blessed, which is why 
you are not to discard them in a hurry. He can 
generally bless the work of sincere and thoughtful 
30 



Creeds and Family Prayer 31 

men, because they have caught so much of his 
spirit into their work. 



I don't want to talk any more about creeds. I 
only wanted to try to clear up these one or two 
things. 

Now we will consider the question of family 
prayer. It is generally too much mixed up with 
the morning bacon; and then, too, some one is 
always late, and then it isn't family prayers any 
longer. Yet a Christian household ought to join 
together with God once in the day. Time is the 
biggest difficulty; but on the whole, the evening, 
before bed, is surely best. 

Let silence have a large share of your time. 
Set prayers are only valuable where strangers 
meet — in church — and even then they must be 
very simple. At family prayers, let the head of 
the house read part of the evening lesson, and 
then gather yourselves up to God in his silence for 
a few minutes. The value of your family pray- 
ers will be felt in your family life ; and you will, 
in yet another way, be helping on the Picture. 



XII 

CHILDREN'S PRAYERS 

/^HILDREN are not ready for silent prayer, 
though I think you can begin to teach them 
about it quite early. It is better that their pray- 
ers shall also consist of a reading; the mother 
should read; and explanations are not so neces- 
sary as we are tempted to fancy — sometimes we 
muddle what was clear before by our explana- 
tions. After the reading, we might suggest, 
"Suppose we think now about dear daddie," and 
others by name; "and, when we have thought, let 
us ask God to bless them." Only just "God 
bless" and then a string of names becomes a form 
soon, and bores the child. If he can learn to 
think quietly of his daddie for a moment, before 
he says "God bless," it will be a real valuable 
prayer. Children will soon learn about God's 
plan, and learn to love it: they make plans them- 
32 



Children's Prayers 33 

selves, and they know how horrid it is to have 
them spoilt. I don't think religion bores chil- 
dren ever — only people's explanation of it. We 
do explain so badly! 

About grace. It so easily sounds sanctimonious.' 
Why not let it be something in the nature of a 
little gentle joke? I mean, a little joke in the 
rhyme pleases a child, and what pleases little chil- 
dren is generally pleasing to God: — "We thank 
dear God for bread and butter, And milk, that 
make our simple supper; And ask that the other 
children may Be glad, arid not forget to say A 
little grace at close of day." 

It needn't always be the same grace, or solemn, 
need it? God loves all simple happy things, just 
as much as the children do. So why should we 
stand between him and the children? 



XIII 

UNDERSTANDING AND STUPIDITY 

A LONE, it is impossible to help on the pic- 
ture. We must work with others, and 
great love is needed for that, and sympathy which 
grows from love. Sympathy will draw out of 
others all kinds of unsuspected gifts — unsuspected 
even by themselves. Therefore God expects sym- 
pathy. He can't work at his highest power with- 
out it, any more than we can. Sympathy implies 
understanding, which is a gift of God. So ask 
him for this gift. If you are without understand- 
ing you will waste much time in needless blunders; 
and you will alienate others from you by some- 
thing which you do not understand to be a fault 
of your own — but it will be a fault all the same. 
God may give his gifts to men in varying degrees; 
but he never refuses a gift entirely when it is 
asked for, and the degree to which you receive it 

34 



Understanding and Stupidity 35 

depends on yourself. He can't sow great under- 
standing in you, unless you have prepared the 
ground. Lack of understanding makes for stu- 
pidity, and stupidity is about the most hindering 
thing that there is. It makes blots on the pic- 
ture. It is a sin, because it is something that 
you can prevent. No one need be stupid. 



You can't have understanding, if you are put- 
ting up any rigid bars against God in your mind. 
And it is quite easy to put up bars almost uncon- 
sciously. It is not until you have learnt clearly 
about sacrifice and practised it that you have pre- 
pared the ground for the gift of true understand- 
ing. Self-surrender to God is the price that you 
must pay for the full gift. 

What you have got to realise about God is that 
he wants you to have his gifts. People always 
seem to think of him as sitting on a heap of gifts 
tied up tight in sacks, and every now and again, 
when very much worried by us, letting a little por- 
tion leak out of one bag, but very grudgingly! 
God isn't a miser; but he can't waste his gifts, 
and he must see some preparation for their re- 



36 The Fellowship of the Picture 

ception before they are given. There isn't so 
much good that he can just chuck it about, you 
know, so don't expect it of him, but just buck up 
and prepare the ground. 

Understanding is about the greatest gift you 
can ask — it is such a magic key to the world, and 
of course to heaven too. It isn't only Peter who 
can hold the keys of heaven! we can each have 
a latch-key of our own if we have a mind to. Un- 
derstanding will teach you to make excuses for 
people, and God likes us to make excuses for 
other people, though not for ourselves . . . 



XIV 

CORPORATE THOUGHT 

TT is difficult for us all to work together in a 
single-minded sort of way. We are far too 
full of our own plans and ideas; and our plans 
are all so different, they get entangled and cause 
a kind of "no man's land" of entanglement. Until 
we have all learned to see God's plan clearly too, 
and to keep it clear before our mind's eye, we are 
not really fit for corporate work. If we become 
one as to general desire for something, and at 
the same time remain many as to our minds, we 
can't expect to do anything very great and valu- 
able, and we shall be just wasting time. So, you 
see, the first step in everything is to find that cor- 
porate plan ; and that can only be found with God. 
We often talk about this, but I am not sure how 
many of us understand its real importance and 
significance. 

37 



38 The Fellowship of the Picture 

And before we can gain this common mind with 
all men, we must gain it with the few in our own 
church. That is why fellowships are important 
and why we must stick to our . . . Fellowship 
at all costs, we who belong to it. It is natural 
that a fellowship within one's own particular 
church should have a special strength and value. 
In more general fellowships some strength must 
evaporate by very reason of their generalness. 
They are very important and valuable, but the 
concentratedness of a fellowship within a partic- 
ular church has a value all its own; and we must 
not lose sight of this in our eager haste for union 
with other churches and peoples. It doesn't make 
us narrow, it widens us out; and it is a very spe- 
cial and necessary work, and essentially part of 
the picture. 

Thinking profoundly is not every one^s job by 
any means; but, for those whose job it is, a rather 
limited fellowship like ours is very helpful. You 
can't think profoundly on a great many things; 
you must concentrate, and a fellowship of this 
kind does concentrate you, and force you to nar- 
row down thought into certain grooves, thereby 



Corporate Thought 39 

giving your thought a chance to become profound. 
So if you want thinkers — and you do badly, you 
know! — don't be afraid of limiting your fellow- 
ship. The dangers just at present are the other 
way, and though there is great use for interde- 
nominational fellowships, they are not the only 
thing of importance. God's plan is very big in- 
deed, and there is room for many works in it, so 
long as we are all of one mind one to another, 
and that one mind is God's mind. 

But corporate God-mindedness can only come 
through personal God-mindedness. So work for 
the first, and do not become discouraged and 
bored if it does not seem easy at first. It won't 
be easy at first, but it is worth effort. You see, it 
isn't that you have got to fit your ideas into those 
of any other particular person; all you have to do 
is to get your vision of God's mind as clear as 
you can. Then, if the others are truly trying to 
do the same, one fine day you will find that the 
things in them you disliked and disapproved of 
have miraculously disappeared, and they will dis- 
cover the same glorious fact about you ! And 
when that happens you will have brought heaven 
perceptibly nearer. 



XV 

OTHER MEN 

T ET us try to think about all men as part of 
God's plan. We so often are tempted to 
think that the plan really would be possible if it 
wasn't for so-and-so — he does block the way so ! 
But it is chiefly our thought of him that blocks the 
way. Be sure that you have raised the blockade 
of your own thoughts before you accuse him of 
obstruction. Besides, thought does influence the 
actions of others enormously. If you remember 
that it is your own attitude towards the plan that 
is important — much more important than what 
you suppose the attitude of others to be — you will 
not go far wrong. 

We do find it so easy to see the beam which we 
imagine in another person's eye; and what we 
take to be a little mote in our own eye seems very 
40 



Other Men 41 

small and insignificant. It wouldn't, if we had 
ever really seen ourselves in the presence of God 
— that is why it is so important to see ourselves 
into the Picture. 

Miracles are God's back doors. He has to 
have back doors, because it isn't every one who 
can find their key of heaven and go in by the front 
door; and so a miracle back door is needed, to 
get folk (whom God couldn't bear to leave out- 
side) into heaven. The miracles in the Bible are 
kind of back doors too; they are a kind of back- 
door way of showing heaven to people who are 
yet incapable of seeing it more openly. Just a 
glimpse, through the back door, of glory beyond 
is all their eyes are strong enough for yet. Only 
God would have thought of that way out of the 
difficulty — he does have such perfect thoughts! 
Even so, some of the people got what they saw 
all wrong and mistook the true gold for dross. 
They thought Christ did the miracles to show how 
powerful and mighty he was, instead of seeing 
that his pity for man was so great that he had 
to show them a glimpse of heaven, or else his 
heart would have broken over their plight. If it 



42 The Fellowship of the Picture 

was so easy to misinterpret God — no wonder it is 
easy to misinterpret man; and that is what we are 
continually doing. So watch your thoughts and 
guard them. 



XVI 

WISDOM 

\X7" ISDOM is also a key of heaven. It is given 
by God when it is asked for by us; and we 
receive it in varying degrees, according to how 
much we are prepared for it. As I said before, 
God cannot waste his good gifts on unprepared 
places! they are far too precious. Wisdom is 
needed so badly in the world, that people really 
might concentrate most of their powers on trying 
to win this great gift. These great powers of 
God are rather like electricity; in that they are 
there all the time, but their usefulness depends on 
our discovery of them and our power of using 
them. We need them badly for the working out 
of God's plan; so we must make it our business to 
discover about them and use them. 

Some people seem to be born wiser than 

43' 



44 The Fellowship of the Picture 

others; but the others need not despair about that 
— they can attain wisdom. 

What is wisdom? It is a kind of soul sight. 
But it is more than that. It is something like in- 
stinct, only carried to a far higher plane. It is 
perception of the one single possible course to 
pursue; it leaves no doubt. Wisdom and doubt 
are not compatible. 

Wisdom leaves us certain of one thing, and that 
thing is all that is needed in our work for the Pic- 
ture. It makes for extreme clearness of purpose, 
and that is the greatest need where the Picture is 
concerned. There will be no blurred outlines if 
we are possessed of wisdom. And yet I don't 
seem to be able to tell you just what it is. I think 
it can't be put into words; it is an experience, 
and no one ever can describe an experience cor- 
rectly, can they? they soon get themselves finely 
tangled up in a web of contradictions. So I won't 
try any more to tell you what wisdom is ! 

Wisdom is a crown of light around the head of 
the man to whom the gift is given. By its light he 



Wisdom 45 

sees many shadowy objects and places made clear. 
It takes him, too, past cross-roads without waste 
of time — cross-roads of decision, I mean, of 
course. 

I think wisdom is perhaps the gift God is most 
anxious to give; it will carry us past so many bad 
places in our journey to heaven. It will help 
us to find our way into those magic circles we 
spoke of. 

Wisdom is not the round-eyedness of the owl 
— though that is often mistaken for it; it is the 
clear-eyedness of the falcon — perception rather 
than contemplation. You must perceive before 
you can contemplate, you know ; and perception is 
a gift — contemplation the use you make of the 
gift. Am I making this at all clear? It really 
isn't easy. I grope after words to express some- 
thing that is essentially impossible to express in 
words. It can only be expressed in actions, the ac- 
tions that follow the receiving of the gift. So 
there you are, and I had better cease! 



XVII 

WISDOM {continued) 

"^J" OW wisdom comes from God, and it is very 
different from worldly-wiseness which 
comes from quite another quarter. So be quite 
clear about which wisdom it is you seek. Worldly- 
wiseness is not a gracious quality; and though it 
appears to serve folk well, it really leads them to 
world's end; and to arrive at world's end with- 
out being already on the path to heaven is a mis- 
erable state of affairs, not to be tolerated by the 
truly wise man. So avoid world-wiseness as 
you would avoid its creator, and seek the light 
of God's wisdom — it brings statesmanship, not 
worldly statesmanship, but a higher thing. By 
its light you can shape your actions and life 
to fit the picture. Have care to become pos- 
sessed by wisdom, and it will lead you to knowl- 
edge which you will need, if you are to be an ar- 
4 6 



Wisdom 47 

chitect for God. You see, God's picture belongs 
to the Fourth Dimension, and has to be built with 
space; it resembles a little castles in Spain — only 
it is true and stands firm, whereas they come clat- 
tering down about our ears. The Picture has 
God for its foundation — a firmer rock than Peter ! 
so we need not fear that it will fall. 

Still we need knowledge, to prevent us wasting 
time over mistakes. Everlasting happiness comes 
with knowledge. It will turn you into a creator, 
and you will know the joy of creation — the splen- 
did joy of creating something planned and de- 
sired by God.* 



♦Another amusing little child's rhymed grace (cf. p. 33) 
here follows in the original: "Our broth is steaming in 
the dish, And we have bread and salt and fish, 'Most every- 
thing a child could wish. Thank God for our dinner, And 
pray that every sinner May also have dinner!" This has 
since been set to music by Mr. Geoffrey Shaw. 



XVIII 

THE CHAIN OF EXPERIENCE 

""OELIGIOUS experience" is such a dull- 
sounding phrase, but in reality it is far 
the most thrilling experience we can have; and 
though there may be variety in the details of our 
several experiences of religion, the thing that we 
experience is essentially the same. Naturally, it 
may come to each of us in a different way: we are 
so different from each other that it must be so. 
But the thing that comes to us is the same thing — 
a unifying thing which makes us one in and with 
God. The important thing is how to obtain this 
unifying experience. The method by which we 
gain it is unimportant, and varies according to our 
several needs. For those of us who have learnt 
to pray rightly, it will come through prayer; for 
others it will have to come in less direct ways. 
However it comes, it is a very important factor 
48 



The Chain of Experience 49 

in the building of the Picture. It appears to have 
two forms, too, in a way. The experience, as we 
understand experiences — that is a sudden realiza- 
tion of some particular sensation in connection 
with some person, act, or thing. Then the linking 
together of that experience with other similar ex- 
periences, thus forming a continuous experience or 
chain. Religious experience, as we need it, is 
rather this chain than any one particular experi- 
ence of God. It is the continuous chain that we 
need, which will help us to build the Picture. Of 
course the chain may be studded with gems, par- 
ticular and vivid experiences, which brighten and 
encourage us from time to time. Is this clear? 
Or am I getting tied up in a metaphor again? Re- 
ligious experience is a consciousness of God and 
of his plan. Without this consciousness we should 
be like moles working in the dark. 

You may obtain your experience in whatever 
way it comes most easily to you. Remember, God 
is trying to give it to you at least as hard as you 
are trying to obtain it : so it oughtn't to be at all 
impossible to have it. Do remember that God is 
not a grudging God, but that he is generosity; all 



50 The Fellowship of the Picture 

that is generous, open-handed, and free in man 
comes direct from God. Remember this when 
you are disposed to judge men, and learn to see 
God in them. You can't see God in men until you 
have learnt to see him in his entirety — as a whole. 
Then you will be able to recognise him in man . . . 



XIX 

THE OLD COMMUNITIES 

"RELIGIOUS experience must vary, not only 
-*-^ according to the individual and his possibil- 
ities, but also according to the age. This is not 
sufficiently understood; and we hark back to re- 
ligious experience of a past age without realising 
that the experience of 1250, for instance, would 
not be of the highest value to 1919. Our corpo- 
rate spiritual life has grown since 1250, and our 
corporate needs have changed, though people do 
not seem to understand it. Our needs have 
changed in so many ways, and our mode of life 
too. At one time it really was impossible to get 
near to God, except by leading a hermit-like or 
monkish existence : but civilisation nowadays has 
made life an easier thing in many ways; and we 
have time to seek God in ordinary daily life, with- 
out shutting ourselves away from our fellow-man. 
51 



52 The Fellowship of the Picture 

The hermit-monk existence never was very satis- 
factory for this very reason. As I explained be- 
fore, you need to know your fellow-man if you are 
to know God; as well as the other way round — 
the two things are interdependent. So now that 
we have progressed so far with the world as to be 
able to find God in our daily life, it is mere fool- 
ishness to try to revive the monkish habits of the 
past. We don't want to make a museum of our 
religion, to mummify something that is sweet and 
living. 

People may say, "But surely the corporate life 
of prayer and study was of great value?" Yes, I 
think it was; I am not minimising the usefulness 
of it for a past age, only questioning the useful- 
ness of it for this age; and I do not say that we 
cannot use its usefulness for this age, first ridding 
ourselves of its hindrances. God certainly meant 
men and women to work together, or he would 
not have made two sexes for one world! So why 
should we, now that we have learnt the value of 
two sexes for corporate work, try to shut our- 
selves into separate compartments when we begin 
the greatest work of all, the religious work? No, 



The Old Communities 53 

we are far enough along the road of understand- 
ing nowadays not to do this any longer. Men and 
women both have special contributions to make 
to any work that is on hand, secular or religious, 
and we are losing a great force for good if we 
do not recognise this. 

As we see more and more clearly the need for 
God in our lives, we shall set aside more of our 
family life for prayer and thought, and so we 
shall get a sort of community life of prayer again ; 
only now it will be a wholly natural life, instead 
of the very unnatural, and in many ways hurtful 
life of the hermit and monk. Prayer is only at its 
highest use when it is part of life itself. 



XX 

COMMUNITIES AND CHILDREN 

"^TO one ever seems to have thought that chil- 
dren were necessary to the religious life, 
and yet Christ always gave a prominent place to 
children; he liked to have them near him. I am 
sure the "Suffer the little children" occasion was 
only one of many. I see him with children always 
near him — and he told us to be like them. We 
can't be like children if we shut ourselves away 
monkishly. The community life of the future will 
include children. It will be merely an expansion 
of family life — family life at its highest and best. 
Many families may go to make up our religious 
community. Perhaps at first it will be necessary 
for those of us who care intensely about God, and 
his Picture, to go and live all together in some 
village, and so show how such community life is 
possible. But afterwards it ought not to involve 

54 



Communities and Children 55 

any change of residence : the community will grow 
up naturally wherever several families live near 
together, either in towns or villages — wherever 
the family bread-winner wins the family bread. 
These families will be linked by a bond of mutual 
fellowship and prayer into a community life, 
at the same time preserving their own individu- 
ality as families, having their own home life, and 
living their lives just as naturally as any sinners. 
There will be nothing forced or unnatural about 
the life at all — or it would lose its value. They 
would meet for prayer and discussion just as nat- 
urally as others meet for bridge — more naturally, 
because prayer is a far more natural thing than 
bridge! And the children will grow up in this 
life of fellowship and prayer and love, not know- 
ing any other life. 

This may sound a little like the life of some of 
the old Puritans, but it will be their life with a 
difference. The New Community will not cut it- 
self off from other life and interests by having one 
communal interest. If this life is lived to its 
highest, it will open us out to other interests and 
other lives : we shall have a godlike sympathy for 



56 The Fellowship of the Picture 

all life and all forms of life. If our community 
made others feel that we had a life apart, we 
should have failed as a community. 

The effect ought to be that others find them- 
selves attracted to us — that they should want to 
be near us and feel the protective atmosphere of 
which I spoke before — that echo of God in us. 
That is the error of all unnatural forms of com- 
munity life; they repel others, and so do harm 
instead of helping on the Picture. 

Little children can help so much, you know. 
Christ knew what he was talking about when he 
told us to be like them — and how can we be like 
them if we cut ourselves off from their society? 
We can't all have children of our own ; so the com- 
munity life is necessary, in order that the childless 
may share the privileges of those who have chil- 
dren — there must be separate members included 
in these family groups. You can't copy a picture, 
even badly, unless you are near and seeing the 
picture; and you can't become as a little child un- 
less you have a little child somewhere about you. 
If you try to manage without the child's help, you 



Communities and Children 57 

will have a dismal failure, you know. The "un- 
childlike childlike" person is particularly horrid, 
and not at all what Christ meant. 



And of course animals come in too. Remem- 
ber, Christ was in the East, and it wasn't any 
good his talking about love for dogs, for instance, 
in a country where there were only pariahs. No 
one would ever have understood him; and he gave 
them already sufficient grounds for misunder- 
standing, — that one can well see why he didn't 
want to give more than necessary. All the same, 
I shouldn't be surprised if one of the things that 
made people suspect him most was that pariah 
dogs, as well as pariah people, were found in his 
company. Only, of course, the disciples wouldn't 
want to mention that : they already had to tell so 
many unpalatable things about him, poor dears ! 
and they did want to make the most of their case. 
He must have loved them, mustn't he? — the way 
they stuck to him in spite of the shocks he gave 
them. 

But I must stop. 



XXI 

THE NEW COMMUNITY 

'"T^HE community idea, this New Community we 
■*■ will call it, isn't just a dream, you know; it 
is practical politics, and I do wish some of you 
would just collect enough faith amongst you to 
begin. You would be surprised to see how com- 
paratively simple it is to work, and yet what a rev- 
olution it would bring about. It would clear the 
air enormously. Can't some of you try it quickly? 
I do think you have got to begin by collecting spe- 
cial people in a special village; for this reason, 
that at present I very greatly doubt if you would 
find more than one family in any one village even 
partially prepared for this New Community idea. 
Just think of your own village, and you will see. 
But once the right people are together, others will 
soon see the results of the New Community — 
that is, if you make it a success, and you will; and 
58 



The New Community 59 

then they will be swift to follow, because people 
always do follow successful leads. It is only un- 
successful plans that don't get followed 1 Only, of 
course, you really must behave as Christians, and 
not as savages, when you join in your community 
— you must have real true fellowship, the kind 
that will carry you gloriously past all obstacles. 
Because there will be obstacles; you will be an ob- 
stacle yourself, unless you are very careful! You 
have all got to solve the problem of becoming im- 
personal without losing personality. 

But I don't want to put the difficulties before 
you; you will probably see them clearly enough 
for yourselves. What I want to make you see is 
the "worth-whileness" of it all. Then you will be 
in the frame of mind to pass difficulties, and get 
on with the plan. You see, I haven't acquired 
God's patience by any means, and I can't help 
champing a little; though I know that is hindering, 
and I try not to. 

The New Community is only a new name for an 
old plan. New names have to be found, because 
old names collect a coat of dusty boredom, and a 



60 The Fellowship of the Picture 

new name bucks us up ! But it is just part of the 
plan which has been in God's mind since he first 
set the world going. Only now the time really 
is ripe for this part of the plan to come alive; it 
tingles already, and just a touch would start it into 
full activity. It is a much bigger part of the plan 
than you, any of you, realise; it would bring the 
kingdom of heaven on earth. But of course it 
involves personal hard work as well as corporate 
hard work — hard work of prayer and faith and 
hope, and love and sacrifice — all the things we 
have been talking about. 



XXII 

BEGINNING A NEW COMMUNITY 

TT is necessary to consider practical difficulties 
and to find the way out. You can't import 
whole families away from their natural environ- 
ment and dump them down in a village together. 
Try to get one family with children that under- 
stands the plan. Probably there may be such a 
family already in a likely village. Then get them 
to make of themselves a family community of 
prayer and thought and fellowship rather after 
the manner we have already talked about. Then 
try and get several isolated people, who have time 
and opportunity at their disposal, to go and live 
in the same village with that family — they can all 
have cottages of their own, or live together, as 
seems best. And let the experiment begin in this 
humble way; only do let it begin — that is the 
urgent thing. They can all go on with their ordi- 
61 



62 The Fellowship of the Picture 

nary pursuits and still have time to make the com- 
munity idea come alive. There is nothing to pre- 
vent others who cannot join this community from 
trying to bring the plan alive wherever they hap- 
pen to be. At least you can begin to follow it-in 
your own homes, and possibly you can get neigh- 
bours to come in with you — at least you ought to 
have sufficient faith to make it possible to suggest 
it to them. Do remember that it is our lack of 
faith which is often the stumbling-block in the 
path of others. Talk to all whom you think 
might possibly understand, and try to get their 
help. 

You needn't fear to begin the plan in a humble 
way. The Christian religion began in a stable, 
you know; and many mighty things have sprung 
from very humble beginnings. Just get the idea 
implanted in a few folk who are really keen about 
it, and you will find it all happening quite simply. 
But you must all be keen about it, and you must go 
on being keen; and do be content for a while to 
start just this one new thing, and then stop start- 
ing other new things for a while, and give this a 



Beginning a New Community 63 

chance to grow. "Club"* may grow out of it too, 
and be a central meeting place for members of 
communities as well as others. Remember, if you 
make a success of the community you will not 
alienate others by your new way of life; you will 
not become less but more clubable folk as a conse- 
quence. I should like to see "Club" started be- 
fore long . . . 

*A scheme for a new sort of club which the author had 
much at heart and always referred to in this way. 



XXIII 

THE IMPORTANCE OF FELLOWSHIP 

X70U must not look upon the New Community 
A as an end in itself. It is really to be a means 
only, to help you to practise fellowship with all 
men. Only it is difficult at first to acquire the 
spirit of universal fellowship, and it will help you 
if you begin at first in smaller ways, which are at 
the same time larger and rather more difficult 
than the fellowship which you practise at present. 
I mean, it will be more difficult to have continu- 
ous fellowship with a set of people with whom you 
live, than it is to have it with folk who are full of 
a common interest, whom you only meet with oc- 
casionally for a short week at a time. The New 
Community fellowship will require patience and 
forbearance; and that will train you to be ready 
for the larger fellowship with all mankind. 

And when you have acquired universal fellow- 

6 4 



The Importance of Fellowship 65 

ship with mankind, you will be ready for the Fel- 
lowship of Heaven, which is the Communion of 
Saints. Don't imagine that the Communion of 
Saints is a glorified fellowship that you spring 
into the moment you are dead. It has to be ac- 
quired too; and if you practise fellowship in your 
life you will the sooner be ready for the happi- 
ness of the Communion of Saints. And the Com- 
munion of Saints brings you close to God himself, 
and within the radiance of his light of love. So 
you see what a tremendous thing fellowship is, 
and how important it is to practise it in all its re- 
lation to life on earth. It is a work for God, and 
God gives himself as the reward of it. When I 
say, he gives himself, it sounds as if his giving or 
withholding of himself depended on himself; and 
that is not quite the truth, because it really de- 
pends more on you. God is very much handi- 
capped by us, you know; and we must remember 
that, when we are tempted to judge his actions 
or what we take to be his actions : what we take 
to be God's actions are often only the result of 
our own actions, if we would only understand it. 

However, the more you pray aright, the better 



66 The Fellowship of the Picture 

you will come to understand God and his relation 
to us, and you will see how much he is limited in 
his power, and yet at the same time his power is 
quite unlimited when he has our co-operation. 
The devil has no more power against God when 
God has been able to teach us his will; but he 
can't fight the devil single-handed. If we were 
merely the battleground of God and the devil, we 
shouldn't be worth much in ourselves — we should 
be merely negative. And God wants us to be pos- 
itive, and positive on the side of good. It would 
not be possible to build the Kingdom of Heaven 
out of a mere spent battlefield — battlefields are 
not good material for building sites ! Therefore 
God has made us positive, and it is for us to decide 
on which side we fight. If once you can see God, 
there will be no doubt on which side you elect to 
fight; and it is for those who have the vision to 
show it to others, in order that they too may be 
on the right side. If you pray aright, you will 
live aright, and others will see God in you. 



XXIV 

COMMUNION AND FELLOWSHIP 

^T^HE Communion, that is a commemorative' 
•*■ meal as instituted by Christ, is very helpful 
towards fellowship. But I do think that he meant 
it to be just that — an act of fellowship together 
with others, and a remembrance of him. We do 
need times of special remembrance; that is why 
anniversaries have their value. But we must try 
to distinguish between what Christ meant when he 
instituted this act of commemoration and fellow- 
ship, and all the traditions that men have built up 
round it. Possibly the traditions have value ; but 
I fancy that on the whole they are hindering, and 
tend to keep away those who might otherwise 
have fellowship with us in this common act. 

After all, as Christ founded it, it was a very 
simple homely meal which friends and comrades 
67 



858 The Fellowship of the Picture 

shared together, and perhaps we have read rather 
more concrete meaning into what we call the 
words of institution than Christ intended. Any- 
how, our thoughts and beliefs about this seem to 
have led to more harm than good, and have 
tended to alienate those whom a simple doctrine 
might have bound together with us in a common 
fellowship. A commemorative meal with other 
folk who share a common interest and a common 
hope is no mean thing, even if there is no further 
mystical meaning than can be found there. It 
helps to strengthen our purpose, to renew our 
hope, and to deepen our love. But at present 
many simple and good souls are debarred from 
it because they fancy themselves unworthy; no 
one is unworthy who wishes to have fellowship 
with man and love for God. 

Learn to look upon it in this way, and teach 
your children to love it as a means of deeper fel- 
lowship. Then it will be of real value in your 
lives, and it will no longer be a stumbling block 
to others. Most things to do with God are sim- 
ple : it is only when we interfere with God's plan 
that it gets complicated and represents difficul- 



Communion and Fellowship 69 

ties to us and to others. So try to understand 
God's plan and to show it to others in your life, 
as he wants it shown, and not as you might think 
he wants it shown. 

Remember that simplicity is another key of 
heaven: it is the children's key, but you can use 
it too . . . 



XXV 

THE SHARE OF THE CHILDREN 

"p\ON'T press children or others to share Com- 
-*-"' munion with you. If it is really a useful 
and valuable thing in your life — and it will be if 
you only understand it rightly — children and 
other folk will see its influence in your life and 
they will wish to share this common experience. 
We have frightened them away by our solemnity 
about it. It is solemn, of course, but it is gay and 
joyful too; and it is the gay and joyful side we 
want to show to folk. They will discover the 
solemn side later, and realise its value. It is men 
who are always pressing the need of awe. Christ 
was more occupied in getting near men's hearts, 
and in drawing them to him by his love. He 
knew that awe would not be absent where there 
was any true knowledge and understanding of 
God. It could be left to look after itself. 
70 



The Share of the Children 71 

In the early stages of learning, awe is rather a 
deterrent than an incentive. Therefore tell the 
children naturally about this experience of Com- 
munion, let them see that it is a real power for 
joy in your own life; and if they are assured of 
its practical value, you may be sure they will soon 
wish to share it with you. Then a few words 
about sincerity are all that will be needed, I think. 
I mean, they will understand that it is better far 
to stay outside for years and years than to take 
part, if they are not truly seeking fellowship with 
man and love for God. But if you have shown 
forth the joy in your own life, there will be little 
danger of their seeking a loveless Communion, 
and also little danger of their stopping outside 
this fellowship. 

As with children, so with older folk. Let 
them see practical results, and they will not be 
slow to join with you. You can also help to 
gather them in by prayer, as we said before. 

And now about baptism. Since we have great 
responsibility concerning others if we truly love 
God and seek to further his plan, we can surely 



72 The Fellowship of the Picture 

face the responsibility of bringing our babes to 
God in this initiation service. We want the babe 
to grow up near God, part of the Picture in which 
we believe. So we cannot bring him too early to 
God; and this public way has great value. Gather 
with you others who truly believe and seek for 
the Picture, and so surround the babe with a pro- 
tective ring of love and faith, whilst you gather 
him up to God in prayer. Only be sure to con- 
tinue to hold him near God in your prayer al- 
ways, in order that his life's beginning may be as 
helpful to the rest of his life as possible. Bring 
other little children to the baptism too; it will 
help them to understand that they belong also to 
a great fellowship — the Fellowship of the Picture. 



XXVI 

LIGHT IN THE CORNERS 

VK/'E must carry our vision of the picture into all 
the corners of life, in order that it may 
illumine them for us like a bright lamp. The 
light of this lamp will make clear much that was 
dim to us before; and things that had seemed 
valueless acquire their true value under its rays. 
Particularly is this true where our religion is con- 
cerned — services, and doctrines, and dogmas, they 
are so overlaid with the dust of human stupidity, 
that we can only discern their true original outline 
by holding over them this light of the vision. 
First, of course, we have to obtain this light; but 
I think I have shown you that it is not impossi- 
ble, or even so very difficult, to obtain, if you will 
only try. By its light things will cease to be a 
puzzle, and life will be ever so much more clear 
and straightforward, both for us and for others, 
73 



y 



74 The Fellowship of the Picture 

because we cannot illuminate our own path with- 
out illuminating also the path that others walk. 
God means us to be very helpful to others, and 
they to us : that is one of the most important parts 
of his plan, and we must always bear this in mind. 

Man's relation to man is only next in impor- 
tance to man's relation to God, and one cannot 
exist without the other. No individual salvation 
is possible. It is no true salvation unless it in- 
cludes fellow-man. It can only be partial, so long 
as it is not universal. That is why our attitude 
to cur fellow-man is so important, and also why 
we depend on him so much. 

The outlines of all fundamentals of religion 
are true and clear enough. What we have to do 
is to penetrate through the dust-layers of stupid- 
ity with the beam of our light of vision, and re- 
discover these outlines. Whilst they are lost and 
hidden, our religion will be of little value to any 
one; and to the young especially it will appear 
mouldy — just useless lumber. If, however, they 
are able to see the clear outlines appear as we 
get rid of the rubbish, they will not be slow to 



Light in the Corners 75 

discern the value of what they see. Young folk 
are far more keen for essentials than their eld- 
ers, and have no time to waste over anything 
that appears to them useless. They are, how- 
ever, keen as mustard over real live things, and 
it is our job to show them the real live thing which 
we have buried under so much dust. So buck up, 
and apply the vision-beam to your religion, and 
you will no longer have to complain of the lack 
of interest displayed by the young folk. But you 
mustn't keep any cosy dusty corners: the light 
must go everywhere. What you need is a thor- 
ough spring clean, you know, before the great 
truths will shine out in the light of day. Inci- 
dentally your courage will be a strong appeal to 
the young and to all those who like clean dwell- 
ing places, and who have been alienated by the 
dust and disorder . . « 



XXVII 
THE DUSTY ONES 

VX7"HEN you have got back to those original 
clear outlines, you must be careful to keep 
them clear and not to accumulate fresh dust. You 
are all so full of theories, and you find them so 
exciting, but I assure you it is a much more ex- 
citing thing to see God's plan grow; and it cannot 
grow, if you smother everything in your theories. 
You must somehow keep yourselves passive, and 
then God can use you for the working out of the 
plan. If you are full of your own plans and the- 
ories, and do not wait to find out God's plan and 
bend yourselves to it, then your religion will soon 
be as musty and dusty as ever, and all your effort 
will have been in vain 

Perhaps you say that it is impossible for you to 
do much to clear the outlines, whilst those at the 
76 



The Dusty Ones 77 

top make no effort and are so placidly dusty. 
Now really, you know, they don't count so much 
as you seem to think. The real business lies with 
you and your fellows. As far as possible you 
must just ignore the dusty ones, and where they 
can't be either ignored or converted, they must 
be fought. After all, you have examples of this 
already — and have they proved so very indomita- 
ble? I think not. You see, if you are sincerely 
trying to follow God's plan and to bend your- 
selves to it, and to do only such things as you can 
see clearly that he requires of you, then you know 
that right is on your side; and the dusty ones 
must inevitably be conquered by right. 

So first ascertain what it is that God requires 
of you, and then do it undeterred and unhindered 
by any one or anything. Of course, worldly am- 
bition has had to go: but then worldly ambition 
is incompatible with God's plan, and I take it that 
you have got rid of this hindering thing and stand 
up unfettered for your work for God. When 
once worldly ambition has gone, you are well 
equipped for your work, and the dusty ones will 
have no power against you. They will go down 



78 The Fellowship of the Picture 

like nine-pins before your single-minded pur- 
posefulness. 

Don't, however, despair of the dusty ones. 
Some of them are capable of reform. Remember 
that dust is an insidious thing that creeps on one 
unawares, and before one knows, one is all 
clogged up in it. It is not at all easy to get free 
from it. So be compassionate to them, but ruth- 
less when it is necessary for the furtherance of 
the plan. There is such a thing as ruthless kind- 
ness, though it may sound a contradiction. They 
have got to learn that they are not so important 
to our religion as they earnestly believe ; and that 
conviction can only come to them by action on 
your part. When they see that religion flour- 
ishes and people are attracted to it, even when 
you who practise it go directly against their own 
judgment and wishes, they may see their error — I 
don't say they will, but they may. And that would 
be their salvation; they would begin to seek God 
and his plan, and to let go their own plans and 
ambitions. So do not alienate them by dislike 
and hostility — be friendly, but ruthless . . . 



XXVIII 

ON FEARING EVIL 

'IXT'E spoke before of the need of eliminating 
fear from our lives; but then we were 
thinking chiefly of actual fears about life in its 
relation to ourselves and others. Now, fear of 
evil is also something that we have to get rid of; 
and I don't think you understand that yet. You 
think fear of evil is natural and right; but I tell 
you all fear is wrong, and hindering to the plan. 
Fear must go. 

So many people who are counted good — almost 
saints — by the world are very fearful of evil; they 
shun any contact with it, treating it as a mighty 
and terrible thing. The strength of the devil lies 
not so much in the subjection of the wicked to his 
purposes, as in the fear, respectful fear, that he 
inspires in the good. You are helping the devil 
79 



80 The Fellowship of the Picture 

when you fear evil. God wishes you to be god- 
like, that is to be as like him as you can become 
by constant nearness to him; and he has no fear 
of evil. If he had, he would at once cease to 
exist and we should all be ruled by the devil. So 
do not flinch from evil; go boldly to meet it, and 
explore it in the light of God. There can be no 
godlike goodness without a knowledge of both 
good and evil. It is necessary in order that you 
may help to complete the picture. For if you 
shun and fear evil, you will be confining your 
powers : it will be as if you voluntarily set out on a 
journey partly blindfold. We need all our pow- 
ers and our wits about us. We have to be brave 
and not cowardly, if we are to fight for God. 

It is a pity that so many good folk do limit their 
powers by this fear of evil. They about halve 
their use in the world. 

You must have clear eyes that fear nothing, if 
you are to see the Picture true in God's mind and 
help him to make it come true in the world. Fear 
is always a clogging, hindering thing; and once 
more I say, it must go. Can't you see the power 



On Fearing Evil 81 

you give the devil when you fear him? No, you 
must face all evil as it comes in your path, openly, 
courageously. Your life will then become a mag- 
nificent, free thing — the wind of God for ever 
blowing through it, purifying it. You can't purify 
a place by shutting the windows and pulling down 
the blinds, you know. You have to fling open the 
windows and let the cleansing wind blow right 
through. 

Strength only comes completely when fear goes 
completely. Remember that, and see if you can't 
expel all fear from your life once and for all . . . 



XXIX 

A JOYFUL CONSCIENCE 

/^UR consciences are really just our power of 
clear-sightedness — -our power of seeing 
God's picture. Therefore, you see, they are badly 
needed for the furtherance of the plan. But we 
do so badly misunderstand the word, or else we 
muddle its meaning when speaking of it. To 
hear us, you would think that our conscience was 
a person, a kind of thin-lipped governess who 
was always telling us not to do what we wanted 
to do, or to do what we loathe doing. It isn't a 
person at all, of course, nor is it really a "still 
small voice." It is mind-sight; and we are never 
made, by it, to do anything we don't wish to do, 
because as soon as our conscience or mind-sight 
has enabled us to see the Picture, we at once want 
to do what is right, that is, what fits in with the 
picture. 

82 



A Joyful Conscience 83 

No one resents having power of sight, and that 
is all conscience is; and it never makes us do what 
we do not want to do, — that would be quite 
against God's plan — an entire impossibility. It is 
essential to understand that you can't be working 
for God and doing something you dislike. If you 
are really working for God, the work brings God- 
companionship with it; and that is happiness. 

People, who talk as if conscience was a gov- 
erness and made them do things they dislike, are 
really being led away by some will-o'-the-wisp — 
some queer little kink in themselves. They are 
mistaking the whole nature of conscience. And 
you generally find that — when they do something, 
led, as they say, by their consciences — that some- 
thing is, if not perhaps definitely sinful, at least 
something which is hindering to the plan. And 
anything that hinders the plan does indirectly 
help the devil, you know. So it is at least very 
nearly sinful, and a thing to be shunned. 

So try to understand about conscience, and 
make others see the truth about it too. 

Conscience, you see, is an entirely joyful thing 



84 The Fellowship of the Picture 

— a vision of God and his picture must always be 
that; but what folk call "conscience" is grim and 
joyless, and associated with duty, which also is so 
hopelessly misunderstood, that we shall really 
have to drop the word altogether, I fear. "My 
duty," we say, and at once a joyless prospect 
stretches out before us. Of course, duty really 
only means the carrying out of the plan which con- 
science has enabled us to see; but, as I say, the 
word is so mixed up with hopelessness and wrong- 
ideadness that it had better go. Speak of your 
work for God. Work is a good honest word and 
not yet wholly dissociated from joy, — thanks be! 



XXX 

THE DEMON IN THEOLOGY 

HP HE young people are right in thinking us mis- 
taken when we use hard words with hard 
meanings in connection with God and our religion. 
True companionship with God teaches us that sen- 
sitive tenderness is the keynote of the Picture, and 
that harshness is out of the picture. Tenderness 
is a far stronger quality than harshness. Harsh- 
ness is merely the shoddy armour behind which 
the weak seek to hide their weakness. A really 
strong man is a tender man : tenderness is a god- 
like quality. So remember all that is harsh and 
unlovely in your religion is what has been tacked 
on by blundering man; and when you get down 
to those fundamental outlines, you will find ten- 
derness and love and joy, all of which are attri- 
butes of God. 

I do want you to understand this above all 

85 



86 The Fellowship of the Picture 

things; for the Church can never make its true 
appeal to all men, so long as any of you are blur- 
ring the outlines with your ideas of harshness in 
connection with God and religion. You say that 
you believe God to be good — but search your 
hearts ! Down deep in you is planted the convic- 
tion that he is a demon: it was planted there by 
man, not by God; and that conviction, however 
sub-conscious it may be, does infinite harm, and 
must be got rid of. Until it is uprooted, and you 
have firmly planted in its place the conviction that 
God is Love and can only do loving helpful things, 
you cannot work your best for the picture. You 
will be working against the grain, as it were. You 
must believe in God's goodness so completely that 
you almost cease to have to believe in it — if you 
can understand what I mean. It will be like a 
habit — a habit of mind this time — a habit so in- 
grained in us, after a while, that we do the thing 
subconsciously. It does not stir the surface at 
all; the surface is free for other things. That is 
how you are to believe in the goodness and love 
of God. It means that you must practise your 
belief constantly, because that is the only way any- 
thing can become a habit. But you won't be at 



The Demon in Theology 87 

your full power for good until you have this habit. 

With the coming of this habit of mind, all be- 
lief in the power of the devil must go. He has 
no power against God, when God can command 
the help of man on his side. That is what you 
have to fight for, the gathering of all men on to 
the side of God. It is not so impossible as you 
think; and it depends more on you, and on your 
attitude to your fellowman, than you have yet 
thought possible. 

It is far more necessary to have a conviction of 
love than a conviction of sin.* 

* The original script goes on : "This book is going on well, 
I think. We seem to work better together as we get more 
practice, don't we? And you like the book, don't you? I 
really believe it is a good book; and it is going to help 
people, and clear up some things for them. I can write 
more clearly now than I ever could before: you can see 
that in the book, I expect; and it helps me to write through 
you, instead of through myself, as it were. You have a 
clear mind to write through." Then follow the usual 
ini tials. 



XXXI 

THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY 

RESISTANCE is to be avoided as much as 
possible in one's life. Some folk are so 
busy resisting evil that they have little time left 
to seek good. Now the first and most important 
thing is to seek good. When evil comes in your 
direct path resist it like anything, but don't spend 
your life setting out on expeditions against it. 

Sometimes, too, we resist what is good because 
we mistake it for evil. This would not happen 
if we were not putting more energy into our 
pursuit of evil than into our search for good. And 
we resist each other too in a futile way — all the 
things we dislike in others. If we concentrated 
our thought on what we find admirable in others, 
we should have less time to notice the things we 
dislike, and we should waste less energy in our- 
88 



The Conservation of Energy 89 

selves — which we really need badly for our con- 
structive work for the Picture. 



One of the things you most need to learn is to 
conserve your energy for good, and not to waste 
it over the unnecessary little frictions of daily life. 
Do remember you can only have a certain 
amount, and if you waste it over irrelevant things 
it won't be available for the building up of the 
Picture. It is awful to see the way people will 
waste this gift of God, and not seem to realise 
that it is a gift of God, or even that it has any 
worth at all. Fussed away, it often is, in petty 
trivialities. 

You must learn to expend yourselves as little 
as possible over the daily life. Go calmly on 
your way, and don't let all the little trivial things 
upset your balance. Do try to see your life in 
terms of eternity. Then, if you are seeing the 
Picture in the mind of God, you will know how 
to use the energy, the life power that is yours, to 
its best and fullest advantage. Do realise that 
God is a person; and it must be bitter to him to 
see his good gifts wasted, instead of being turned 



90 The Fellowship of the Picture 

to further good. Christ tried to express some of 
this to us in that parable of the talents, but it 
has been a good deal misunderstood, as so many 
of his stories and sayings have been. People gen- 
erally are content to find a little meaning in his 
sayings, and not to go further and seek out the 
greater meaning which is always enshrined at their 
heart. 

You have to read your Bible in the light of 
understanding which you obtain from God in 
your prayer. Then the larger meaning of many 
things will stand emblazoned out like a beacon. 
You will not be able to avoid seeing it . . . 



XXXII 

WHAT IS OMNIPOTENCE? 

OMNIPOTENCE has to be understood. It 
^"^ does not mean that God alone can do any- 
thing he pleases. Omnipotence is a co-operative 
quality; God and man working together are 
omnipotent. If you understand this, you won't 
expect the impossible from God, and you won't 
so often be disappointed. So many qualities and 
attributes which we think of as belonging to God 
are really co-operative qualities, and only come to 
their highest power and value when they are 
shared by God and man. God is the greatest 
co-operative worker there is; it was not God who 
taught us individualism. 

We are not to compete with one another for 
heaven: heaven can never come completely until 
it comes to all; and so long as some are outside, 

r 9i 



92 The Fellowship of the Picture 

just that much will heaven be incomplete for the 
others. A treat is not a treat to a loving child 
if it is not shared by all his family. If we are 
capable of attaining heaven ourselves, we are also 
sufficiently filled with God's love for it not to be 
completely heaven if unshared by all. There's a 
paradox for you! But it is true — you will see 
for yourself that it is true. Selfishness is the 
negation of heaven. 



XXXIII 

THE LAWS OF GOD 

/^HANGE of thought about the all-powerful- 
^-^ ness of God is needed very badly, if you 
are to work whole-heartedly for the Picture. So 
long as you misunderstand about this, you will be 
restricted in your work. God made his own laws, 
and one of them is that he should have little 
power in bringing the picture to life without our 
co-operation. It is necessary for our ultimate 
good that we should know that we are needed — 
that despotism on the part of God cannot bring 
the Kingdom of Heaven, but that it depends on 
our working together with God. And God's laws 
are never arbitrary; they are well thought out in 
their relation to the scheme of things — the Pic- 
ture. The subjects of a despot are rarely people 
of strong character; any strength they may have 
possessed has been undermined by the despotism 
93 



94 The Fellowship of the Picture 

of their ruler, and they become weak, shiftless, 
purposeless. 



Now God has our ultimate good at heart, and 
he has made his laws with that always in view. 
But he made his laws quite unchanging once for 
all. That cannot be done by man, only by any 
one as sure as God. And only God can be suffi- 
ciently sure to make unchanging laws. Of course 
it is the best way of making laws, if you are 
sure enough and wise enough ; but remember that 
it is only God who can do it. When men try, they 
come the most awful croppers inevitably. 

In the Picture, God is not seen as our head, 
as a king. In the Kingdom of God we are so 
filled with the Spirit of God, he so permeates us, 
that there is no need of a king. We work to- 
gether with him in complete fellowship, under- 
standing and love. That is a thought to fill us 
with awe — -almost fear. Perhaps we can hardly 
bear the light of the completed picture yet. But 
you must remember that a king stands alone and 
is of necessity a lonely person, and God is also 
human as well as divine, and hates loneliness as 



The Laws of God 95 

much as you and I. So in the picture, as it stands 
complete in the mind of God, he is no longer 
standing in lonely kingship; for we have all be- 
come so completely one with him that all loneli- 
ness, all distinctions, are merged into one glorious 
wonderful whole. But that is not yet. Work for 
the picture; but remember always this dazzling 
thing that is in the mind of God, and humble 
yourselves before it. 



XXXIV 

A PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY 

HP HIS desire or longing of God to be one with 
•*• man — to step down for ever from his 
throne- — touches us by its very greatness, its seem- 
ing impossibility, just as the ambitions and de- 
sires of our fellow men touch us by their small- 
ness, their modesty sometimes. But it is not an 
impossible plan really if only we will look clearly 
into the mind of God and see it there, and dis- 
cover there too the way in which it is to come to 
pass. You must always remember in thinking of 
the picture that it is not at all nebulous — it is 
clearly planned to its completion in God's mind; 
it only lacks perfection in that it is still only in 
the mind of God and not an actual fact, not yet the 
kingdom come upon earth. And God does not 
plan impossibilities: it is true that all things are 
possible to him with our help. 

I am trying to put before you this Fellowship 
96 



A Practical Philosophy 97 

of the Picture as a practical philosophy of life. 
I want you to see that it is a perfectly workable 
plan; and if only you would all try to discover 
it in the mind of God (you must each see it there 
for yourselves, you know — no one else can really 
show it you clearly), and if you will then try to 
make it come true, you will soon find that I am 
not telling you about something impracticable, but 
something which will help you all, more than you 
can guess. Surely your lives are not so well 
planned and so satisfactory that you are unwilling 
to give this scheme a trial? 

It is no mere dream, it is a real live possible 
fact. It is no use just saying that is very beautiful, 
and then going on as before. A great responsi- 
bility lies with those who see the vision. They 
not only have to see it and to show it to others, 
they have to translate it into actual fact; they 
have to translate eternity into terms of time, in 
order that all those in the world may be able to 
work for it. The bother is that so many who 
see the vision do not seem also to feel this prac- 
tical responsibility. But they must see it, and you 
must see it. The picture must not remain for ever 
in God's mind. 



XXXV 

PLEASURE AND HAPPINESS 

TTfE have been thinking of the ultimate glory 
* * and happiness that come with the com- 
pletion of the picture. We must not forget that 
great happiness comes immediately to those who 
begin to work for it. It isn't a case of working 
in sorrow and misery — upheld merely by the glory 
that is to come. The happiness of the work itself, 
if not so complete and satisfying as the final hap- 
piness, is at least very great and absorbing. And 
it is this happiness that the world needs so greatly 
nowadays. There is very little happiness in the 
world to-day. One sure sign of a lack of happi- 
ness is pleasure-seeking. The really happy person 
does not need to seek pleasure, because happiness 
is far more delightful and satisfying than 
pleasure. I don't mean that the happy person 
should have a puritan-like attitude to pleasure — 
98 



Pleasure and Happiness 99 

far from that — only he will never need to go 
seeking pleasure; he will take what comes in his 
direct path and will be satisfied with that. 
Pleasure-seeking is a sign of unrest, and unrest is 
unhappiness, not always conscious unhappiness, but 
unhappiness for all that. 

This unrest in the world has got to stop; but 
there again, as we said about peace, universal 
happiness can only come through personal hap- 
piness. Happiness is an attitude of mind, and 
it isn't difficult to acquire if you will set about it 
the right way. Only most of you confuse pleasure 
and happiness, and spend your energy pleasure- 
seeking; and that is a terrible waste of time. 
Happiness is constructive and leads to further 
happiness; but pleasure ends in itself, and only 
leads to further unrest. 

The labourer who strikes for higher pay is 
really influenced more by this general unrest of 
the pleasure-hunt than he is by the higher motives 
of happiness. That is where the trouble comes 
in; because the motive that causes us to do a thing 
is of far more ultimate importance than the deed 



ioo The Fellowship of the Picture 

itself. But you can't get mankind as a whole to 
revise its motives, unless you as an individual 
revise your own. That is the great lesson you 
have to learn — the importance of individual effort 
for the corporate good. Man for his fellow, and 
God for us all, you know ! . . . 



XXXVI 

CONCLUSION 

TJTAPPINESS has immense constructive value. 
Man's best work is done when he is happy. 
But remember that happiness depends on our- 
selves: we are not the creatures of circumstances 
that we delight to make ourselves out to be. To 
be happy requires determination. Make up your 
mind that you will never be vanquished by cir- 
cumstances. Happiness is your right; but we all, 
even men, have to make efforts to obtain our 
rights, you know! 

We have so confused terms in the past, and 
that has led us into some fearful mistakes. We 
have misunderstood the whole nature of happi- 



102 The Fellowship of the Picture 

ness, and looked upon it as a dew of heaven that 
came upon us without personal effort; whereas 
it is a thing to be sought and wooed. True good- 
ness and happiness are synonymous, you know; 
you can't have one without having the other, and 
they are both equally necessary for the Pic- 
ture. 

It is impossible for me to show you the Picture; 
and every one has to see it himself in the mind 
of God, not only to see it once, but many, many 
times. As he sees it, and every seeing makes it 
clearer, so he has to mould himself to it, and, as 
far as he is able, to help others to mould them- 
selves to it. And so, very gradually but very 
surely, the Fellowship of the Picture, God's King- 
dom, will come into being. It is given to me to 
have power to show you these few glimpses, in 
order that you may be inspired and encouraged 
to seek further for yourself. It is only glimpses 
— you must not regard it as more than that; you 
must go on in all courage and high hope to ac- 
complish this great work. I am happy that God 
has allowed me to give you even this little help. 



Conclusion 103 

I shall be with you always as we work, each in 
our own place, for the Picture.* 

*The original script goes on: "Dear Nan. That is the 
book. I have no power to write more for now, and I think 
we have said enough to help folk quite a lot, if only they 
will give the plan a fair trial. Some day I may be able 
to talk to you and write some more; but something is 
drawing me away now — more work of a different kind. But 
I shan't be far away; and if I find later that I have other 
things to tell you, you will know. The title is The Fellow- 
ship of the Picture. . . ." 



NOTE 

The following corrections have been made in 
setting up the script: 



Inexhaustible for exhaustive, 
and of for and so of. 
be added after must, 
mustn't for must. 
Corporate for corporal, 
superior deleted before word, 
do not for only. 
Corporate for corporal, 
the added before simplest. 
Add of after disapproved, 
it for as. 

God's for God; and is deleted before brings, 
are added after you. 
(not line 8) corporate for corporal, 
say for see. 
you see for see see. 
absent for absence, 
others for ours, 
real for keen, 
is deleted after habit, 
never for only, 
have for be; having for being. 
104 



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